19Aug04

Additional on serious shooting from a well known trainer and friend. He puts it well:

"When I first address a new class of police recruits, I tell them th e following:

'Due to our limited time together, I have only one goal, and that is to prompt you to acquire an adequate mastery of the firearms and tactical skill s you will require to insure that, at the end of every shift, you will go home to

your family in one piece.

If, in addition to that, you want to pursue recreational/competition shooting, you, of course, surely may, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to teach you that skill set instead of legitimate survival skil ls. Competition shooters work at a level of stress that will not push their hea rt rates over 145b/m, and therefore they will have fine and complex motor skills reasonably functioning during the competitive event. Conversely, when you are thrust into a spontaneous, deadly, violent event, your body's endocrine sys tem will instantly dump hormones and other chemicals that will raise your heart

rate well above 145bpm and into a range where fine motor skills fail and on ly gross motor will be available to you. In addition, we will train you to ma ke the best possible use of cover. This will, with any luck, allow you time to

think clearly and then act, rather than spontaneously charging forward pell

mell, in a mad rush to beat the clock.'"

Comment: My friend correctly identifies another two areas where serious training and recreational shooting are in direct conflict.

Roman Legionaries commented on this many centuries ago. Gladiators, traine d (like modern-day television wrestlers) to make an overly dramatized spectacle of "combat" in an arena, were always the first to break and run during real battle with real enemies. It was well known that gladiators made poor

soldiers, and their highly stylized, flashy, glamorous arena techniques, de signed mostly to impress and entertain, were of little value in the face of a determined and seasoned foe who knew how to fight and win the old-fashioned way.

An interesting exception to this rule was seen during the short-lived Spartacan Rebellion in 68BC. Spartacus' ragtag group of former glad iators and slaves made a respectable accounting of themselves when fighting AGAINST Ro man Legions, because they had experienced a change of heart during there conver sion from slave to free warrior, and, in the process, quickly abandoned flashy stuff in favor of the practical stuff.

/John